Creative vs. computational thinking

On the 24th of May, Prof. Giovanni Corazza from the University of Bologna, Italy, gave a public talk, part of the Creativity and Innovation Lecture Series, titled “Creative vs. computational thinking: When surprise becomes a rational necessity”. In this talk, Prof. Corazza discussed the opportunities and challenges for creative expression in the Post-Information Society of the (near) future. He argued for a new kind of role played by creative thinking in an age of artificial intelligence, in which algorithmic and computational thinking are actively encouraged.

The talk touched upon a variety of topics, from the definition of creativity to the difference between creative and computational thinking, from current neuroscience research to proposing a new concept of organic creativity, a notion that recognizes the contribution of this phenomenon to both individual and societal well-being. Within a dynamic framework, creative products and considered as part of wider creative processes in which potential novelty and effectiveness become the hallmark of creativity and encourage us to reflect on the importance of inconclusiveness and estimations of creativity for actual creative performance. Prof. Corazza considered also market and especially educational implications of this new way of thinking about creativity within a future world in which surprise becomes a rational necessity.

A podcast with Prof. Corazza can now be heard at podcast.webster.ch.